World Without End!

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

The “end of the world” will be, for the saved, like the “end of the pregnancy” for the newborn. It won’t really be the end of anything (except for the end of World Trade Center bombings, death, grief, anguish, and the thousand natural shocks flesh is heir to). Rather, it will be the beginning of everything. It will be the heaven and earth we have always longed for, of a world in which life is a continual struggle against our own worst inclinations, of a world in which we find it natural and easy to love, of a world in which God is readily known and loved in every beam of light and whiff of air around us. That world is already here in the foretaste that is the Eucharist. Someday it will be here in full. When the Son of Man comes, let us be among those who welcome the Bridegroom. O Lord, Come! Maranatha!

Mark P. Shea is a popular Catholic writer and speaker. The author of numerous books, his most recent work is The Work of Mercy (Servant) and The Heart of Catholic Prayer (Our Sunday Visitor). Mark contributes numerous articles to many magazines, including his popular column “Connecting the Dots” for the National Catholic Register. Mark is known nationally for his one minute “Words of Encouragement” on Catholic radio. He also maintains the Catholic and Enjoying It blog and regularly blogs for National Catholic Register. He lives in Washington state with his wife, Janet, and their four sons.

Subscribe to CE(It's free)

More on Catholic Exchange

Connect

CE Shop

This page is having a slideshow that uses Javascript. Your browser either doesn't support Javascript or you have it turned off. To see this page as it is meant to appear please use a Javascript enabled browser.